About the teahouse

teawithXiake is a small publication about China — its history, its books, its arguments, and its everyday life — written for people who are curious but tired of the headlines.

Who is Xiake?

Xiake (霞客) is your editor and host. The name borrows from two people: Xu Xiake (徐霞客), the Ming-dynasty traveler who spent thirty years walking China and writing down what he actually saw, and the xiákè (侠客) — the wandering knight of old stories, loyal to a code rather than a court. That is the posture here: go look for yourself, tell it straight, owe nothing to anyone's slogans.

霞客，是你的主编，也是请你喝茶的人。这个名字取自两处：一是明代那位用三十年走遍中国、只写亲眼所见的徐霞客；二是旧小说里那种认理不认官、有一套自己规矩的侠客。这也是这个号的姿态——自己去看，照实说，不欠谁的口号。

The promise

Every article cites where its facts come from. When something is opinion, it is labelled as opinion. When we get something wrong, we correct it in the open — see Sources & corrections.

Why bilingual?

Most readers here don't read Chinese — so English comes first. But everything is written in both languages, paragraph by paragraph, because a lot of you are also learning Mandarin. Use the toggle at the top of any article to read English only, Chinese only, or both side by side.